Films Shown in 2005
CLOSER - Rated R - 103 minutes
- Flat
Starring Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman
and Clive Owen!
A Golden Globe Nominee for Best Dramatic Picture and Best Director!
A Golden Globe nominee for Best Dramatic
picture and Best Director (Mike Nichols), Closer is a modern look
at how men and women behave (or mis-behave) around one another. It involves
four strangers meeting in London. Jude Law a novelist who writes obituaries
and Natalie Portman is a stripper turned waitress; they have nothing in
common, but when they meet there is instant chemistry. Law then meets Julia
Roberts at a photo shoot and he's attracted to her as well. Clive Owen,
a doctor, is surfing the internet when he finds Law, pretending to be Portman,
and agrees to a meeting. From there on things get complicated!
See reviews
LIFE AQUATIC - Rated R - 118
minutes - Scope
Starring Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston,
Willem Dafoe
Life Aquatic is the latest
from writer/director Wes Anderson whose other films - Bottle Rocket,
Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums - have all exhibited a quirky
originality. Life Aquatic marches merrily along to the same off-beat
drummer! Bill Murray stars as a marine adventurer who, with his crew of
international oddballs, roams about the seas aimlessly undoing the work
and reputation of Jacques Cousteau at every opportunity. Having recently
lost his longtime friend and partner to the jaws of a rare and ravenous
shark, Murray swears revenge and takes his crew out for yet another mission
with a purpose as single-minded as that of the shark itself.
See reviews
KINSEY - Rated R - 118 minutes
- Scope
Starring Liam Neeson and Laura Linney
Men and women
have been doing what the birds and bees do since Adam and Eve. But until
Albert Kinsey (Liam Neeson) studied human sexuality in 1948, few had dared
to pry inside their neighbors' bedroom as intensely. Writer/Director Bill
Condon (Gods and Monsters) and Neeson's stylish performance will
allow you to laugh about the rigidity of the times--and the difficulty of
getting the hard data. Laura Linney, as Kinsey's scientific partner and
wife, brings a supple warmth to her role. John Lithgow plays Kinsey's deeply
repressed father and Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) a
morality professor. Chris O'Donnell, Peter Sarsgaard and Timothy Hutton
play Neeson's associates, questioning the sexual history of thousands of
strangers in the name of science. This is a delightful trip back to a simpler--and
decidedly more uptight--time.
See reviews
SPANGLISH - Rated PG-13 - 131
minutes - Flat
Sensitive
and sophisticated, James L. Brooks' "Spanglish" is the best relationship
movie this season. Flor (Paz Vega) speaks no English when she takes a job
as a housekeeper for a well-to-do chef (Adam Sandler) and his manic wife
(Tea Leoni). When the family rents a summer house on the beach, Flor and
her bright 12-year-old daughter Cristina (Shelbie Bruce) are forced to move
in with them and family tensions evolve.
See reviews
FINDING NEVERLAND - Rated PG
- 102 minutes - Scope
Starring Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Julie Christie,
and Dustin Hoffman
7 Academy Award Nominations (Best Actor, Art Direction, Costume Design,
Film Editing, Original Score, Best Picture, and Adapted Screenplay)
In Finding Neverland, director Marc
Forster (who did the Academy Award winning Monster's Ball) offers
a warm and fanciful explanation of how Scottish playwright J.M. Barrie conceived
"Peter Pan." From what thin air did Barrie, who'd already written
a number of successful plays, pull his ideas? How does an ordinary mortal
take a menacing pirate with a hook for a hand, a crocodile with a ticking
tummy, and a flying boy who refuses to grow up and make any sense of it
at all? Actor extraordinaire Johnny Depp is Barrie, Kate Winslet is the
widowed mother of four young boys, Julie Christie is their grandmother,
and Dustin Hoffman is Barrie's theater impresario.
See reviews
LIBBY, MONTANA - Unrated - 124
minutes - DVD
You've seen
the headlines and the evening news about the indictment of W.R. Grace and
Co. for their decades long cover-up of the asbestos problem in Libby, Montana
- now see this compelling new documentary that tells the full story! Equal
parts mystery, horror film, black comedy, corporate indictment and human
tragedy, Libby, Montana is expertly compiled and genuinely compassionate.
The film pulsates with urgency and commitment, and manages splendidly without
the abrasive finger-pointing and knee-jerk aggression that has marred reportage
in our age of so-called reality television. Produced by documentary filmmakers
Drury Gunn Carr and Doug Hawes-Davis of Missoula's High Plains Films, this
is not-to-be-missed viewing!
See reviews
HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS - Rated PG-13 - 118 minutes - Scope
Academy Award Nominee - Best Cinematography!
Zhang
Yimou's 2002 martial-arts epic Hero was a huge hit with critics and
audiences. With House of Flying Daggers, he has again made a visually
ravishing film with action scenes thrilling enough to inspire even the most
jaded moviegoer. This time Zhang uses a more direct storyline and the result
is far more engaging and entertaining. Once again, Zhang tells a story of
deception, romance, heartbreak and conspiracy set in the days of ancient
China. During the waning days of the Tang Dynasty in 859 AD, two police
officers learn that a beautiful blind showgirl is a member of a feared insurgent
group out to overthrow the ruling parties. They set out to confront her
and the intrigue builds.
See reviews
HOTEL RWANDA - Rated PG-13 -
122 minutes - Scope
Academy Award nominee - Best Actor, Best Supporting
Actress, and Best Original Screenplay!
The wrenching Hotel Rwanda
is an effective example of social conscience on the screen. This fact-based
story depicts a horrific episode of ethnic cleansing in the mid-1990s, in
Africa, when Hutu militants massacred almost a million Tutsis. Don Cheadle
gives a magnificent performance as real-life hero Paul Rusesabagina, the
Hutu manager of a posh Belgian hotel. When armed bands of extremists start
slaughtering fellow Rwandan citizens, Paul's wife Tatiana (the lovely Sophie
Okonedo of Dirty Pretty Things fame) and many of their neighbors
are Tutsis, so the danger becomes harrowingly personal. More than one thousand
frightened people take refuge in the hotel, giving the initially reluctant
Paul a task akin to that of Oskar Schindler.
See reviews
SIDEWAYS - Rated R - 127 minutes
- Flat
Golden Globe Winner and 5 Academy Award Nominations
(Best Picture, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Director, and Adapted
Screenplay)
In Sideways,
which is fast taking on the status of "cult hit," two longtime
friends Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church) set out on
a tour of California's wine country in the week before Jack is to get married.
Miles, a failed novelist, still obsessing over an ex-wife, is the wine expert,
alternately pretentious and sympathetic. Jack is a happy-go-lucky sort who
wants one last fling before matrimony. When they encounter two attractive
women, a waitress (Virginia Madsen) who knows a lot about wine and a single
mother who works in a winery (Sandra Oh), the men are forced to confront
their dashed dreams and to ponder their own hopes for the future.
See reviews
BAD EDUCATION - Rated NC-17 -
109 minutes - Flat
Directed by Pedro Almodovar and starring Gael Garcia
Bernal!
Bad Education
is the latest film from Pedro Almodovar, the flamboyant Spanish director
who won the Best Foreign Film Oscar five years ago for All About My Mother.
Almodovar's new film is like an ingenious toy that is a joy to behold, until
you take it apart to see what makes it work, and then it never works again.
Life is like that. Briefly, the story involves a young film director (Fele
Martinez) who is visited one day by a young man (Gael Garcia Bernal) with
a script story. Ordinarily the director would not be interested, but then
he learns his visitor is the boy who was his first adolescent love, back
in school, and that the story is set in their school days and involves sexual
abuse by a priest. In Spanish with subtitles.
See reviews
BEING JULIA - Rated R - 104 minutes
- Flat
Starring Annette Bening - Oscar nominee Best Actress
Jeremy Irons, Shaun Evans and Juliet Stevenson
 |
Annette Bening steals the show as an aging
theatre actress whose affair with a younger man changes her perceptions
of her life and her position forever in this sumptuous adaptation of
W. Somerset Maugham's 1937 novel "Theatre." Set in the '30s,
Being Julia is rife with witty dialogue and situations that remind
one of Hollywood films of old. The movie's concerns about aging and
a system that disdains older women are a little more modern in concept. |
See reviews
BE COOL - Rated PG-13 - 119 minutes
- Scope
Starring John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Vince Vaughn
Be Cool
is the sequel to Get Shorty featuring John Travolta as lovable mobster
Chilly Palmer who came to Hollywood to produce films and is now looking
to get into the hip-hop music business, managing a sizzling young singer.
To do so he confronts a slimy manager, a gun-toting rap mogul and a hot-to-trot
recent widow - Uma Thurman. Be Cool is a funny romp with a lot of
good zingers about the music industry and engaging performances by Travolta
and Thurman.
See reviews
BRIDE & PREJUDICE - Rated
PG-13 - 111 minutes - Scope
Hollywood meets *Bollywood !
* Bollywood is one of India's most popular film genres -coined by blending
Bombay and Hollywood - they are full of colorful songs and
dances, love triangles, comedy and dare-devil thrills!
Director/co-writer Gurinder Chadha's follow-up
to the tremendously popular Bend It Like Beckham is this Bollywood-style
adaptation of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." In the Elizabeth
Bennet role is Aishwarya Rai as Lalita, a stunningly beautiful farmer's
daughter in Amritsar, India, who's put off by the arrogance of visiting
American hotel magnate Will Darcy (Martin Henderson of The Ring).
Darcy is in town for a wedding, an event that always warrants epic festivities
regardless of who's getting married. Darcy gets off on the wrong foot with
the spirited Lalita by deeming the crowded streets "bedlam," and
summing up the local dance moves as "screwing in the light bulb and
patting the dog." Rai winningly plays a feisty heroine who's effortlessly
gorgeous, intelligent, independent, talented, romantic and honorable.
See reviews
THE SEA INSIDE - Rated PG-13
- 127 minutes - Scope
Academy Award Winner - Best Foreign Film !!
Look for a coupon for The Sundance Channel Free Preview Showing
Saturday April 2, 7:00 PM in the Queen City News (sponsored by the Sundance
Channel).
The Sea Inside, this
year's Foreign Film Oscar winner from Spain, is based loosely on the true
story of Galacian sailor Ramon Sampedro, who became paralyzed from the neck
down in a diving accident. He later began a long legal tussle with the Spanish
government for the right to die, although Spanish law wouldn't permit it,
raising philosophical issues similar to the Schiavo case in Florida. The
Sea Inside with its cascading dream-like imagery, is anchored by the
rock-steady performance of Javier Bardem. In Spanish with subtitles.
See reviews
THE CHORUS - Rated PG-13 - 98
minutes - Scope
Academy Award nominee - Best Foreign Film
Juvenile delinquents find purpose
and meaning in their lives when they join a choir at their school in Les
Choristes, the sentimental French hit that garnered an Oscar nomination
for Best Foreign Film. The film begins in the present, when famed conductor
Pierre Morhange (Jacques Perrin), who has just received tragic news, is
visited by an old schoolmate. They flashback to post World War II France
and the pair's tough days in a dead-end institution, tellingly named Fond
De L'Etang (Rock Bottom). The film's hero, Clement Mathieu (Gerard Jugnot),
is a failed music teacher who is appalled by the conditions at the school
and decides to bond with the boys in his charge by teaching them to sing.
See reviews
THE SECRET OF REDGATE - unrated
- 87 minutes - DVD
 |
Join New York Best-selling author, Jim Marrs, as he probes
the unearthly secret of Deer Lodge Montana's interactions with UFO's
for more than half a century. Winner of "The People's Choice Award"
- International UFO Congress 2004. |
THE UPSIDE OF ANGER - Rated R
- 117 minutes - Scope
Starring Kevin Costner and Joan Allen
Upper-crust
Michigan wife Joan Allen has just been ditched by her husband, has four
very different daughters to deal with, and guzzles wine like water. She's
angry. Next door lives Kevin Costner, a washed-up baseball player turned
sarcastic radio-show host who's not too interested in middle-aged women.
The four daughters (Erika Christensen, Alicia Witt, Keri Russell, Evan Rachel
Wood) smartly never try to overplay one another. Instead, they quietly embrace
their characters' small quirks. That's why this family drama remains moving
and poignant without ever overreaching. You'll be upset if you miss this
charming sleeper.
See reviews
MELINDA AND MELINDA - Rated PG-13
- 99 minutes - Flat
Woody Allen's latest! Starring Will Ferrell, Johnny
Lee Miller, Radha Mitchell, Chloe Sevigny, Amanda Peet, Wallace Shawn, Josh
Brolin, Gene Saks, Vinessa Shaw and Chiwitel Ejiofor
The combination
of Woody Allen and Will Ferrell and the familiar Manhattan locales would
be enough in itself to make Melinda and Melinda a very appealing
proposition in theory. In practice it makes for one of Allen's most accomplished
and enjoyable films in years. The story starts in a Chinese restaurant with
a group of arty types (an astute ensemble of actors including the inimitable
Wallace Shawn) discussing the relative merits of comedy versus tragedy.
Then we cut to twin narratives, each of which begins with the same incident,
but which develop along different lines--one tragic, one comic.
See reviews
DEAR FRANKIE - Rated PG-13 -
105 minutes - Flat
Featuring Gerard Butler from Phantom of the Opera
Dear Frankie, the story
of a nine-year old deaf boy yearning for a father, is one of those stories
that is hard to forget. Simply told, its emotions register with a force
not common in more complicated works. Frankie (Jack McElhone) and his mother,
Lizzie (Emily Mortimer) live in a small Scottish port town where Frankie
carries on a fanciful correspondence with his sailor dad. Fanciful insofar
as Lizzie is the one penning the letters from sea. When Frankie learns his
father's ship is due to dock, Lizzie is faced with a moral dilemma. She
enlists her friend Marie (Sharon Small) to help scare up a stand-in dad.
Here we get the finest performance in an all-around well-acted film--Gerard
Butler as the brooding, nameless stranger. Butler - last seen as the Phantom
in Phantom of the Opera and before that romping through Tomb Raider
2 - is the masculine ideal, but he carries it softly and memorably.
When the denouement comes, it is at once surprising and inevitable--as if
it had to happen that way, but still you don't see it coming - the mark
of a satisfying and well-directed story.
See reviews
MILLIONS - Rated PG - 97 minutes
- Flat
Millions
is a children's story about what money does to both inspire and corrupt
people. Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) brings a buoyant visual
flair to this tale of two Liverpudlian boys who have lost their mother and
shortly come into a sack of stolen cash. Damian (Alex Etel) believes he
is being advised by saints who help to guide him in making the right decision
in dispensing the loot. His older brother, Anthony (Lewis McGibbon), is
more inclined to keep it. Meanwhile, their father--and most of the new suburb
they've moved to -- are clueless about the nature of their acquisition.
See reviews
BORN INTO BROTHELS - Rated R
- 84 minutes - Flat
This year's Academy Award winner - Best Documentary!
Born into Brothels, which
won this year's Oscar for Best Documentary, reminds us of the curative power
of art in an ugly world. New York photographer Zana Briski and cameraman
Ross Kauffman spent several years filming the lives of the children of prostitutes
in the red light district of Calcutta, India. Briski picked 10 children,
handed them point-and-shoot cameras and taught them basic lessons of photography
- the results are amazing!
See reviews
POSTMEN IN THE MOUNTAINS - Unrated (G) - 93 minutes - Flat
Simply but
beautifully told, Postmen in the Mountains is a richly observed tale
of generational baton passing. A father delivers the mail the old-fashioned
way, walking with his trusty canine companion for 3 days to cover a route
through mountainous terrain no mail truck could ever negotiate.Years of
repeating this arduous journey have taken a toll and he is forced into early
retirement. The only person he trusts to take over his route is his son.
On the day the son is supposed to make his first trip, the dog hesitates
to go with him, so the father decides to go along one last time, introducing
his son to numerous friends along the way.
See reviews
CRASH - Rated R - 100 minutes
- Scope
Starring Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon
and Brendan Fraser
Crash
tells the interlocking tale of a group of disparate Angelenos - whites,
blacks, Latinos, Koreans, Iranians, cops and criminals, the rich and the
poor, the powerful and powerless, all defined in one way or another by racism.
All are victims of it, and all are guilty it. Sometimes, yes, they rise
above it, although it is never that simple. Their negative impulses may
be instinctive, their positive impulses may be dangerous, and who knows
what the other person is thinking? The result is a movie of intense fascination.
See reviews
TURTLES CAN FLY - Unrated - 95
minutes - Flat
Turtles Can Fly is a deceptively
modest and extraordinarily moving film from the mountainous region of Kurdistan.
Directed by Bahman Ghobadi who created A Time for Drunken Horses,
this film explores the lives of children who live on the Turkish-Iraqi border,
just prior to the American invasion. The central figure, 13-year-old Soran,
hooks up the villagers with satellite dishes to keep them connected to the
rest of the world. He is also the community leader who plays parent to orphaned
children - many of whom have lost limbs due to land mines. Turtles Can
Fly is about how children become the victims of war and the lives they
try to lead in spite of it. In Kurdish with subtitles.
See reviews
LAYER CAKE - Rated R - 110 minutes
- Scope
LAYER
CAKE, a riveting thriller set in the drug underworld of the UK, marks
the directorial debut of producer Mathew Vaughn (Lock Stock and Two
Smoking Barrels, Snatch) and stars Daniel Craig, Colm Meaney,
Kenneth Cranham, George Harris, Jamie Foreman, Sienna Miller and Michael
Gambon. Sleek, well dressed and polite, our unnamed hero (Daniel Craig)
is a consummate professional. Treating cocaine and ecstasy like any other
commodity, he has made a fortune for himself by keeping his hands clean
and staying under the radar. Having made the decision to retire, his aim
is to break free from the world of crime, drugs and violence and live a
simple, quiet life with the money he has amassed. But before this can happen,
crime boss Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) wants two last favors from him.
What should be routine transaction is anything but and nothing goes according
to plan. Instead, duplicity and hidden alliances become the order of the
day, in a struggle for power that reaches from the crack dens of London
to the highest ranks of British society. Quickly he learns he is part of
a machine much greater than he imagined, and getting out won't be quite
as easy as getting in.
See reviews
UNLEASHED - Rated R - 102 minutes
- Scope
In Unleashed, Martial arts superstar
Jet Li reteams with French writer-director Luc Besson (Kiss of the Dragon)
in this psychological action film shot in Glasgow, Scotland. Li stars as
Danny, a human attack dog for a powerful mobster he calls Uncle Bart (Bob
Hoskins, looking resplendent in white suit after white suit). When Bart
and his men go out on their collection runs, they bring Danny, who has been
trained since he was a child to fight to kill. When Bart takes Danny's collar
off and commands, "Get 'im," Danny goes to work, an unstoppable
machine, using the only weapon he knows: his body. But when a turf war ends
up in bloody carnage, Danny escapes and is taken in by a kind family consisting
of blind piano tuner Sam (Morgan Freeman) and his teenage stepdaughter,
Victoria (Kerry Condon). They teach Danny how to be a real person, to be
able to act civilly in society. They also allow Danny to explore his love
of the piano, where a specific tune haunts him, bringing up repressed memories
from his long-ago past. Just when Danny thinks he has escaped from his former
life, he is pulled back in, but he is no longer the trained dog Bart thinks
he is. Written by Besson and directed by Louis Letterier (THE TRANSPORTER),
UNLEASHED is a gripping, heart-wrenching film fueled by the music
of Massive Attack and a relentless visual style. And having taken acting
lessons for the first time in his career, Li more than holds his own in
the presence of such masters as Hoskins and Freeman.
See reviews
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room - Unrated
- 110 minutes - Flat
Enron:
The Smartest Guys in the Room is truly a tale for our time and does
two things exceptionally well. It provides a detailed autopsy of what happened
(without becoming so technical that everyone except the lawyers and accountants
in the audience become lost) and it warns against the culture of "synergistic
corruption" that has infiltrated all of corporate America. Alex Gibney,
who developed the film from the book written by Fortune Magazine
writers Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, sees the rise and fall of Enron
as a modern Greek tragedy. Lay and Skilling are the Great Ones, and their
tragic flaw - the thing that brings them down - is hubris. The director
also sees elements of black comedy in the story. Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling,
the two men at the top of Enron's pyramid (which we eventually learned was
"a house of cards…built over a pool of gasoline"), were media
darlings, credited with creating a new business model. It all came tumbling
down in 2001. While Lay, Skilling, Andy Fastow, and others pocketed millions
after dumping their stocks before they became worthless, 20,000 average
workers were left without jobs, nest eggs, and pensions. On December 2,
2001, Enron declared bankruptcy. The story was over, but its telling had
only begun.
See reviews
HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE - Rated
PG - 118 minutes - Flat
From the Director of Spirited Away, 2004
Academy Award Winner for best Animated Film
A young woman named Sophie is
cursed by the Witch of the Waste, and turns into an old woman, and she is
unable to tell anyone of her plight. Unable to continue her job at her mother's
hat shop, she goes to the ambulatory castle of the notorious wizard Howl,
and insinuates herself into his household. Sophie befriends Calcifer, the
fire demon who powers the castle and who is bound to Howl by a contract,
the terms of which Calcifer cannot reveal. They promise to help each other
with their problems. Like Calcifer, Howl can also see through the Witch's
spell, and he and Sophie fall in love. Sophie helps Howl confront his former
teacher, and the Witch of the Wastes.
See reviews
BROTHERS - Rated R - 112 minutes
- Flat
SUNDANCE AUDIENCE AWARD WINNER 2005
A compelling
and beautiful film, Michael (Ulrich Thomsen) has everything under control:
a successful military career, a beautiful wife (Connie Nielsen) and two
daughters. His younger brother Jannik (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is a drifter, living
on the edge of the law. When Michael is sent to Afghanistan on a UN mission,
the balance between the two brothers changes forever. Michael is missing
in action - presumed dead - and Sarah is comforted by Jannik, who against
all odds shows himself capable of taking responsibility for both himself
and the family. It soon becomes clear that their feelings have developed
beyond mutual sympathy. When Michael comes home, traumatized by being held
prisoner in the mountains of Afghanistan, nothing is the same...Danish with
English Subtitles.
See reviews
MAD HOT BALLROOM - Rated PG -
110 minutes - Flat
Mad
Hot Ballroom is a new documentary that walks (or rather meringues, tangos
and swings) in the footsteps of "Spellbound" with a riveting and
extremely entertaining look at a citywide dance competition for adolescents
sponsored by New York's public school system. Ultimately, Mad Hot Ballroom
is more about life than dancing. It's about how these children, many of
whom lack self-confidence and are on the road toward delinquency, overcome
challenges through this class. It's about teachers who devote themselves
to their students with such passion that even talking about "their"
boys and girls causes them to cry. Director Marilyn Agrelo and writer Amy
Sewell are smart enough as filmmakers to recognize that the real drama faced
by these extraordinarily expressive and articulate kids isn't about the
dancing itself, but about experiencing puberty and other adolescent challenges
in the context of some of the most romantic patterns of movement ever devised
for the human body. Ultimately, Mad Hot Ballroom becomes a paean
to the essential goodness of so many unsung heroes of American education,
and to the frailty of the innocence all children carry with them. This is
an amazing documentary achievement - easily as good, if not better, than
any "feel good" fictional story that Hollywood has ever produced.
See reviews
Me and You and Everyone We Know - Rated R - 95 minutes - Flat
Performance
artist Miranda July's Me and You and Everyone We Know is a film that
with quiet confidence creates a fragile magic. July hits a grand slam as
the writer, director and star of her first film. It's a moonbeam romance
laced with startling wit and gravity. It's a comedy about falling in love
when, for you, love requires someone who speaks your rare emotional language.
Yours is a language of whimsy and daring, of playful mind games and bold
challenges. Hardly anybody speaks that language, the movie suggests -- only
me, and you, and everyone we know, because otherwise we wouldn't bother
knowing them. Winner of a special prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival,
this feature film possesses a quirky charm that is so difficult to categorize
that perhaps the jury's award for "originality of vision" is the
only way to describe it. Characterized by an ensemble of rich and delicious
characters and witty, unexpected dialogue, July's script is also marked
by a deep affection for children. As a director, her work with minor cast
members is remarkable, eliciting strong performances that aren't actorly
while touching on themes about modern art, the digital age and cross-generational
love affairs. It's July's gift to locate a common humanity in the strangest
of bedfellows. There's not an ounce of shame or arty superiority in her
hilarious and heartfelt film. Her unique take on the world is cause for
celebration.
See reviews
Ladies in Lavender - Rated PG-13
- 104 minutes - Flat
"Ladies
in Lavender," Charles Dance's début feature, is an impressive
achievement. Quality abounds in the stellar cast, the magnificently detailed
production design, and the knowing, sensitive cinematography of Peter Biziou
and Ed Rutherford. The great Dames of English theater create cinema magic
in this sweet trifle of an indie. Veterans Maggie Smith and Judi Dench are
the perfect bookends: spinster sisters Janet and Ursula Widdington, who
live an insular life in a quiet coastal town outside of Cornwall circa 1936.
One day a handsome Polish stranger (Daniel Bruhl) washes up on the shore
of the beachy cottage inhabited by widow (Smith) and her spinster sister
(Dench), setting both hearts aflutter in different ways as they nurse the
injured young man. Enter Natascha McElhone playing an artsy, foreign-born
siren who, the ladies decide, is up to no good. Based on a story by William
J. Locke, Dance's screenplay is a marvel of patient narrative and gentle
wit. "Ladies in Lavender" is the kind of film whose focus is less
on the narrative story than on the performances by Smith and Dench. Both
are superb and take roles that they could have played in their sleep and
transform them into living, breathing characters. Another star is the music
(Joshua Bell's maturing brilliance is a pleasure in every bar) with its
power - when presented honestly - to wash away anger, intolerance and sooth
unrequited love. But the movie itself, sensitively but sturdily made, with
an ear attuned to the most delicate notes of the story, is the sort of small,
independent-minded picture that so much of American indie cinema strives,
and often fails, to give us.
See reviews
WILD PARROTS OF TELEGRAPH HILL - Rated G - 83 minutes - Flat
(If you liked the penguins, you'll LOVE the parrots!)
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph
Hill, a documentary about a man named Mark Bittner and "his"
flock of parrots, by filmmaker, Judy Irving, is making its way around the
country as an underground phenomenon, fueled by fans who urge their friends
to see it. While he was waiting to make other plans, life happened to San
Francisco resident Mark Bittner--in the form of cherry-headed conures inhabiting
a scrap of semi-wild terrain in the middle of the city. The onetime musician
befriended the 40-odd parrots, becoming what one bemused onlooker calls
the St. Francis of Telegraph Hill. He became the species' rare observer.
Birders had little interest because the San Francisco conures are non-native,
descended from a handful of birds brought stateside as pets and then escaped
or were abandoned. On the parrots' home turf in South America, scientists
haven't gotten close enough to know individuals and their relationships
the way Bittner does. He seems to identify most with Connor, the group's
lone blue-crowned conure, for his outsider status and his longing for a
mate. Documaker Irving's portrait of the man and his feathered friends is
an outstanding nature film as well as a tender meditation on the limits
of ambition and the unexpected ways we find purpose and meaning in our lives.
It is not the film you think it is going to be. You walk in expecting some
kind of North Beach weirdo and his wild-eyed parrot theories, and you walk
out still feeling a little melancholy over the plight of Connor, the only
blue-crowned conure in a flock of red-crowned conures. But even Bittner
didn't understand--or wouldn't acknowledge--the depth of his connection
to the birds until he nursed Tupelo, a dying parrot. His description of
her final hours will resonate with anyone who's seen a loved one, human
or animal, through their waning days. In "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph
Hill," Irving, a longtime filmmaker and lifelong birdwatcher, captures
her subjects with striking intimacy. She shapes a well-told story, capped
by a few dramatic turns of event. The last-scene surprise makes perfect
sense, alluded to in nearly every frame that precedes it. In watching the
birds and the man with an affectionate, curious eye, the filmmaker builds
a story of surprising emotional resonance.
See reviews
Murderball - Rated R - 86 minutes
- Flat
The lives of tough, highly competitive
rugby players. Quadraplegic rugby players. Whether by car wreck, fist fight,
gun shot, or rogue bacteria, these men were forced to live life sitting
down. In their own version of the full-contact sport, they smash the hell
out of each other in custom-made gladiator-like wheelchairs. And no, they
don't wear helmets. Viewers are thrown into these men's lives, their dreams,
and the amazing recoveries from the accidents and conditions that left them
in a wheelchair. Not at all the traditional woe-is-me flick (a la a recent
awarding sports film), this film details the triumphs and trivialities of
their every day lives as Olympic athletes - who just so happen to be paralyzed.
See reviews
The Edukators - Rated R - 126
minutes - Flat
"The Edukators," a
fluid and gripping drama from Germany (it has the design of a thriller and
the mood of a spontaneous, whirling-camera character study), is the first
film to anatomize the contradictions of the rage-against-the-machine generation.
Already something of a novelty simply by being the first German film to
grace the Cannes Film Festival's official competition selection in 11 years,
"The Edukators" exudes its own quirky self-confidence as it deals
with three twentysomethings who are determined to change the world by non-violent
methods. It tells the story of a trio of youthful activists who break into
posh villas and, Manson-family style, leave notes that say things like "Your
days of plenty are numbered." The trio's benign guerilla tactics amount
to no more than such harmless pranks as breaking into these luxury houses,
then simply rearranging the furniture--expensive stereo in the fridge, artwork
in the toilet--until they hatch a plan to kidnap the manager of a top company.
The deed, which happens almost by accident, brings them in to close contact
with the very values they so despise. Jan, Jule and Peter, the three youthful
protagonists of the film are rebels desperately searching for a cause. Hardenberg,
the rich businessman they've kidnapped, is an ex-revolutionary himself:
a man now firmly in the establishment who actually lived the days of pot,
protests, rock, free love and riots that the youngsters can only dream of.
Herein lies the rub. It turns out their victim is not quite the epitome
of bourgeois self-satisfaction they had imagined, but rather boasts a rebellious
past of his own to be taken into account. Director Hans Weingartner sees
these scowling baby Marxists for what they are: middle-class wastrels who've
inflated a valid critique of the system into a self-satisfying tantrum all
their own. He agilely plays the generations against each other, tapping
in strongly to the sentiment prevalent among today's would-be rebels that
it's all been done before. The film has a jaunty and intelligent wit, while
the performances of the trio (Daniel Bruehl, Julia Jentsch and Stipe Erceg)
are neatly nuanced and full of youthful bravado and swagger. Bruehl, in
particular, who made a big impression in "Good Bye Lenin," turns
in another noteworthy performance. In the end, this film makes for a forceful
inventory of much of our current political climate: stormy, urgent and potentially
lethal with gusts of hot air. (German with subtitles)
See reviews
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS - Rated
G - 80 minutes - Flat
A summer movie that the whole family
can enjoy! Don't miss it!
"March
of the Penguins," Luc Jacquet's luminous, moving documentary, is enough
to make you hope there's no such thing as reincarnation: Human beings have
it hard enough, but the life of the emperor penguin, one of strife, deprivation
and against-all-odds adaptability in one of the most unforgiving corners
of the earth, is far rougher. The documentary, with voice over by Morgan
Freeman, also explores the harsh realities that face the chicks once they
break out of their shells. Leaving the protective pouch of their parents
takes time and often a little encouragement. They also have to deal with
the migratory predators who make their way back to the island in early spring.
Above all, they have to learn how to survive on their own once mom and dad
head off to feed. Set against Antarctica's pristine background, the March
of the Penguins is a remarkable narrative. Paying homage to these rugged
royals, the movie is a testament to the resilient nature of the Emperor
Penguins who reign in the land of ice and snow. For most of their history,
their migratory journey has been a quiet, unobserved event. French director
Luc Jacquet and his team of National Geographic photographers, Jerome Maison
and Laurent Chalet, loaded up cameras and equipment in order to follow and
film this unimaginable migration. Spending a year isolated from the rest
of the world, the men worked in subzero conditions and 100 mile per hour
winds on order to capture the personalities and routines of their animal
subjects. This documentary is all about commitment, dedication, overcoming
hardship, the difficulty of survival in an unforgiving environment, and
love - all the things you could ask for from any emotional drama or heart-wrenching
romance!
See reviews
THE ARISTOCRATS - Unrated - 87
minutes - Flat
Described
by critics as either "an essay film, a work of painstaking and penetrating
scholarship, and . . . one of the most original and rigorous pieces of criticism
in any medium" or alternately as "possibly the filthiest, vilest,
most extravagantly obscene documentary ever made . . . a long series of
the most depraved and disgusting words, images and actions that he can string
together . . . absolutely nothing is off limits," (see warning above)
"The Aristocrats" seems to one of those rare films that elicits
either critical praise and adulation or complete and utter distain - no
middle ground! Made by Penn Jillette (the louder half of the Penn and Teller
magic and comedy act) and Paul Provenza, who directs, the film attempts
to reveal from a comedians eye-level perspective, through example and analysis,
the craft and tradition involved in what is know in the business as ''working
blue.'' They start with a simple premise and a single joke, one that has
a long and esoteric history going back to vaudeville days. The punch line
is the title of the film but the setup is left completely to the unbridled
imaginations of some of the funniest writers and comedians to ever tickle
a funny bone - George Carlin, Lewis Black, Drew Carey, Tim Conway, Phyllis
Diller, Whoopi Goldberg, Gilbert Gottfried, Richard Lewis, The Onion editorial
staff, Penn & Teller, Don Rickles, Chris Rock, the Smothers Brothers,
Jon Stewart, and Robin Williams to name but a few. The point of the ''aristocrats''
joke then is that the humor resides in the delivery, not in the punch line.
While professional comedians rarely use it onstage, they like to try out
their own versions on one another, competing to see who can tell the dirtiest,
most extreme, most shocking and longest version. And as various comedians
reflect on its meaning and history you come to understand the codes and
customs of that peculiar guild that makes a living by trying to make the
rest of us laugh. Along the way you learn something about the history of
American comedy while reflecting on the mysteries of timing, context and
delivery, those aspects of the discipline that make comedy an art and where
a few brave souls remain to make a living. These stand-ups, on the spot,
tell the joke, take it apart and reveal why they use it as the gold standard
to test what a comic is made of. Judge for yourself.
See reviews
THE GREAT RAID - Rated - R -
133 minutes - Scope
The Great
Raid is an epic war film that, unlike many recent entries in the genre,
does not seek to take a revisionist look at war. Instead, it seeks to show
the hard work and courage of troops whose reality is danger and death. In
his review, Roger Ebert flatly states, "The difference between (other war
films) and The Great Raid is the difference between the fantasies of the
Pentagon architects of "shock and awe" and the reality of the Marines who
were killed in Iraq last week." The film's central premise is a factually
based account of a 1945-combined U.S./Philippine raid into a Japanese prison
camp to free American GI's. It is January 1945. American and Philippine
forces, intent upon re-capturing the Philippine islands, are pushing the
Japanese army across Luzon. Concerned that the losing army will issue a
"killing order" to exterminate all of the 500+ Americans interred at the
Cabanatuan Prisoner of War camp, the U.S. army prepares a plan to raid the
camp and free the prisoners. This is the true story of that famous raid
by U.S. Army Rangers and Philippine guerillas, who attacked the Japanese
POW camp and rescued more than 500 prisoners, with the loss of only two
American and 21 Filipino lives. Nearly 800 Japanese died in the surprise
attack. These numbers are so dramatic that the movie uses end credits to
inform us they are factual. There are few benefits to war, but one exception
may be the incredible accounts of heroism, determination, and cooperation
that seem so sadly lacking in our society today. Even more amazing is this
movie shows all the "good" war stories still haven't been put to film.
See reviews
BROKEN FLOWERS - Rated - R -
106 minutes - Scope
"Broken
Flowers" stars Bill Murray as Don Johnston, a man who made his money
in computers and now doesn't even own one. To sit at the keyboard would
mean moving from his sofa, where he seems to be stuck. As the film opens,
his latest girlfriend (Julie Delpy) is moving out. She doesn't want to spend
any more time with "an over-the-hill Don Juan." After she leaves,
he remains on the sofa, listening to music. He reaches out for a glass of
wine, changes his mind, lets the hand drop. This is a man whose life is
set on idle. His neighbor Winston (Jeffrey Wright), on the other hand, is
a go-getter from Ethiopia who supports a wife and five kids with three jobs,
and still has time to surf the net as an amateur detective. One day Don
receives a letter suggesting that 20 years ago he fathered a son, and that
a 19-year-old boy may be searching for him at this very moment. Don is unmoved
by this intelligence, but Winston is energized; he extracts from Don the
names of all the women who could possibly be the mother, and supplies Don
with plane tickets and an itinerary, so that he can visit the candidates
and figure out which one might have sent the letter. "The letter is
on pink stationery," Winston says. "Give them pink flowers and
watch their reaction." Don nods, barely, and embarks on his journey
-- not to discover if he has a child, so much as to discover if he wants
a child. At one point he phones Winston from the road, complaining that
he has been supplied with conventional rental cars. Why couldn't he have
a Porsche? "I'm a stalker in a Taurus." No actor is better than
Bill Murray as doing nothing at all, and being fascinating while not doing
it. Buster Keaton had the same gift for contemplating astonishing developments
with absolute calm. Buster surrounded himself with slapstick, and in "Broken
Flowers" Jim Jarmusch surrounds Murray with a parade of formidable
women.
See reviews
SARABAND - Rated - R - 108 minutes
- Digital Video
With "Saraband,"
Ingmar Bergman is balancing his accounts and closing out his books. The
great director is 85 years old and now comes his absolutely last work, "Saraband,"
powerfully, painfully honest. Named after a 17th century court dance, "Saraband"
is the Swedish writer- director's first serious look at family relationships
since 1983's "Fanny and Alexander." Characterized by costar Liv Ullmann
as the most personal film Bergman has ever made, it is also proof that he
still has both the passion for exploring psychological intricacies and the
gifts to make that passion indelible. "Saraband" is broken up into a prologue
and nine chapters, almost all of them dialogues between two of the film's
characters (the source, presumably, of the dance title). Bergman has an
acknowledged gift for savage personal relationships, in which grudges are
far from forgotten and people can't help but eviscerate those they are close
to. Showing us those dynamics playing out in all of the film's interactions
is the essence of "Saraband's" intentions. The most remarkable thing about
"Saraband" is that Bergman makes this kind of intensely emotional filmmaking
look simple. The ease with which the director calls forth the most deep-seated
and complex emotions from his actors is helped by their skill and the decades
they've worked with him, but it's nevertheless exceptional. Seeing "Saraband"
reminds us how much we're missing by not having pictures like this as part
of our regular movie-going menu. Bergman's style of filmmaking seems to
come not from the last century but rather another universe altogether, one
that we've abandoned, to our loss.
See reviews
GRIZZLY MAN - Rated - R - 104
minutes - Flat
GRIZZLY MAN,
a 2005 Sundance favorite, explores the life and gruesome death of amateur
grizzly bear expert and wildlife preservationist Timothy Treadwell. The
film is a powerful cautionary tale about modern man's relationship to wild
nature as it follows Treadwell's journeys to Alaska, where he lived among
the grizzlies and grew to love them. Treadwell's crusade to defend the grizzlies
tragically ended when he-and his girlfriend-were attacked and killed by
a rogue grizzly in October 2003. GRIZZLY MAN is a gripping and epic adventure
story in the tradition of Jon Krakauer's classic Into Thin Air and Into
the Wild. Werner Herzog, noted German documentarian, says, ""I found that
beyond a wildlife film, in Timothy Treadwell's material lay dormant a story
of astonishing beauty and depth. I discovered a film of human ecstasies
and darkest inner turmoil." The film has increased the controversy surrounding
Treadwell's life. Was he an adventurer, an activist, an idiot or a madman?
This documentary allows you to experience his life.and death.in an intimate
way.
See reviews
EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED - Rated
- PG-13 - 105 minutes - Flat
Liev Schreiber's
"Everything is Illuminated" begins in goofiness and ends in silence and
memory. How it gets from one to the other is the subject of the film, a
journey undertaken by three men and a dog into the secrets of the past.
The movie is narrated by Alex (Eugene Hutz), a Ukranian whose family specializes
in "tours of dead Jews." Alex and his grandfather (also named Alex) drive
American Jews in search of their roots to the places where many of their
ancestors died. The movie's hero is Jonathan (Elijah Wood), a solemn, goggle-eyed
American known as "The Collector" because he accumulates bits and pieces
of his life and stores them in Ziploc bags, carefully labeled. He has come
to the Ukraine to find the woman who saved his grandfather's life. To this
woman is due much gratitude, because Jonathan's grandmother passed along
the belief that the Ukraine treated Jews so badly that if the Nazis invaded,
it might be an improvement. The movie is based on a novel by Jonathan Safran
Foer that reportedly includes many more scenes from the distant past, including
some of magic realism in the 18th century Ukrainian Jewish community. "Everything
is Illuminated" lives in the present, except for memories and enigmatic
flashbacks to the Second World War. The gift that Schreiber brings to the
material is his ability to move us from the broad satire of the early scenes
to the solemnity of the final ones. The first third of the film could be
inspired by Fellini's "Amarcord," the last third by Bergman's darkest hours.
Surrounding the actors is an evocative soundtrack, mixing traditional gypsy
music with Gogol Bordello tunes, and a score inspired by the region's music.
It is like beautiful paper surrounding a gift, and that in fact, is what
this film is, a gift from Schreiber to his grandfather, and by extension,
to the rest of the world. It's a lovely gesture and a remarkable first effort.
For one of those obstreperously original books that are themselves impossible
to translate, Everything Is Illuminated is impressively well lit.
See reviews
TOUCH THE SOUND - Rated - G -
90 minutes - Flat
"Touch the
Sound" is a documentary by Thomas Riedelsheimer that follows Evelyn Glennie
on a musical journey around the world. Evelyn Glennie became aware as a
child that she was losing her hearing. It was suggested she attend a school
for the deaf. This did not appeal to her. "Hearing or not, she will do what
she wants to do," her father declared. She has. Today she is a musician
specializing in percussion, and uses her body as a "resounding chamber"
through which she experiences her work. In the closing passages of the film,
Glennie records music for a CD she is making with the musician Fred Frith.
They occupy a huge abandoned factory, its empty space a sounding board.
Frith plays a variety of conventional instruments, and she uses an astonishing
variety of percussive ones. There is no doubt she touches the sound, because
as they improvise together, they develop a musical conversation. The director,
Riedelsheimer, earlier made Rivers and Tides (2002), about another artist
from Scotland, Andy Goldsworthy, whose art involves materials found in nature.
Evelyn Glennie and Andy Goldsworthy have in common a profound sensitivity
to their environments. They look around wherever they find themselves and
begin to discover ways to create the order of art out of the chaos of existence.
Their art is intended to be evanescent. It can be recorded on CDs or film,
but it exists most fully during its own creation. Both artists seem to live
more fully because so completely in the moment. There is a kind of bliss
about them that the audience is able to share.
See reviews
THE GOSPEL - Rated - G - 104
minutes - Flat
"The Gospel"
is a film that deals knowledgeably with the role of the church in African-American
communities. Somewhat paradoxically, it is not a particularly religious
movie; the characters are believers, but the movie is not so much about
faith and prayer as about the economic and social function of a church:
How it operates as a stabilizing force, a stage for personalities, an arena
for power struggles, and an enterprise which must cover its costs or go
out of business. The tension of being a child in a pastor's family is legendary.
From the early experiences with God that imprint one's soul to the pressure
of living in a glass house surrounded by the watching congregation, the
pastor's child struggles with both the authenticity and the hypocrisy they
find. When this unique family life is compounded by a father who is absent
doing "God's work" and a mother who is taken from him at a crucial age by
death, the child can easily lose their way. This is the story of Rob Hardy's
film, "The Gospel." The counterpoint for all of this drama is gospel music,
a lot of it, performed by such well-known singers as Yolanda Adams, Fred
Hammond, Martha Munizzi, the "American Idol" finalist Tamyra Gray, and by
inspired gospel choirs in full praise mode. In the end, Hardy's film exists
somewhere in the religious-cinematic-cultural conjunction between gospel
and blues and in between the big heavenly sound mix of the impassioned/spiritual
and the passionately secular.
See reviews
THE CONSTANT GARDENER - Rated
- R - 128 minutes - Flat
The Constant
Gardener, based on John le Carré's urgent 2001 novel, is a masterwork
of suspense, romance and political intrigue. It is a taut and gripping thriller
that dazzles the eyes and engages the brain in a way that few recent films
have come close to approaching. Told in a non-linear style that requires
close attention, the film is vastly rewarding to viewers who seek a smart
and complex love story. It offers passion, betrayal, gorgeous cinematography,
social commentary, stellar performances by Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz,
and clever wit puts it in a special category near perfection. Justin Quayle,
the amateur plant-fancier who takes the title, is another hooded Ralph Fiennes
fellow, a man more at ease with greenhouse cuttings than with the cocktail
chatter that goes along with the post of a midlevel career diplomat stationed
in Kenya. But such is the clarity and passionate intelligence of Fernando
Meirelles' adaptation of John le Carré's urgent 2001 novel, about deadly
pharmaceutical arrogance in Africa, that Fiennes blooms in his most empathetic,
extroverted, and lovable work in years. Fernando Meirelles also directed
City of God, a film about the slums of Rio de Janiero, was one
of the most acclaimed films of 2004.
See reviews
MIRRORMASK - Rated - PG - 101
minutes - Flat
Screened
at the 2005 Sundance Festival, Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean's "MirrorMask"
is a stunningly cool example of how to take inspiration from a handful of
sources...while somehow still forging something astonishingly unique, challenging
and magical. It's absolutely one of the most original fantasy films in years.
15-year-old Helena (Stephanie Leonidas in a remarkable performance) has
grown tired of working in the circus run by her parents and half-facetiously
wishes that she could "run away and join real life." After a quarrel, Mom
falls gravely ill and Helena mysteriously finds herself in a faraway and
mystical land under attack from the forces of darkness. In order to return
home, she must, with the aid of juggling sidekick Valentine (Jason Barry)
recover the Mirrormask, a talisman on unimaginable power that bridges the
gap between the two worlds, and save the life of the queen of the land (also
played, not surprisingly, by McKee). Helena's more hazardous adventures
occur after she crosses over to the dark side, and is mistaken for her mirror
image, a dark and sinister girl who apparently embodies all the sinister
aspects of her subconscious. The Queen of Shadows (McKee again) mistakes
Good Helena for Bad Helena, placing good Helena in some danger but also
giving her access to information that may save the day. Simply looking at
this film is an awesome experience, if only to observe the endless procession
of magical creatures, creative visual devices and cats with human faces.
State-of-the-art technology, not to mention a director (Dave McKean) with
experience in creating graphic novels, has enabled all of these ideas to
be integrated seamlessly into the world of human actors. It suggests that
while there's no place like home, there are sure some nifty places to visit.
See reviews
THUMBSUCKER - Rated - R - 96
minutes - Scope
One of the
more interesting and unique coming-of-agers to hit the big screen in quite
some time, "Thumbsucker's" unpredictable script, along with solid performances
all around, are the components that allow director Mike Mills' debut effort
to shine brighter than so many of the numerous offerings of the genre. Based
on the novel by Walter Kirn, "Thumbsucker" starts off familiarly enough.
Awkward, shy and directionless, 17-year-old Justin (Lou Pucci) is stumbling
his way through his senior year. At school, his evident lack of confidence
severely cripples his participation on the debate team and leaves him flustered
in front of the girl he adores (Kelli Garner). Home proves no better for
him, either, where his concerned but somewhat self-involved parents Audrey
(Tilda Swinton) and Mike (Vincent D'Onofrio) are at a loss regarding their
son. Justin's biggest comfort when dealing with pressure, in fact, is the
old childhood standby of thumbsucking--a habit whose required secrecy further
adds to his sense of alienation. Unexpected help comes in the form of his
orthodontist and self-appointed psychiatrist Dr. Perry Lyman (Keanu Reeves).
The technique works, but Justin, no longer able to take solace in his thumb,
ends up feeling even more disconnected. Anchoring the film is the key performance
turned in by Pucci, who displays the remarkable range demanded for the role
with total credibility. Much of his onscreen success, however, also can
be attributed to the marvelous interactions that take place between his
character and the well-assembled cast of adults. Those who appreciate strong
character development will like what Thumbsucker has to offer. Justin is
a believable individual, not a Hollywood type, and he undergoes several
credible transformations during the course of the film. Other characters
touching his periphery grow as well, and not all for the better. During
the course of Thumbsucker, Justin learns a number of lessons, and not all
of them come easily. Mills makes a subtle comment about the ease with which
children are prescribed drugs like Ritalin, but he doesn't overdo it. Through
Justin, he displays the pros and cons of the treatment, but it's obvious
that he's not a fan. Does Justin need the drug to grow up, or does it become
a crutch that delays him from finding his true self and propels him down
a path that leads to unfulfilling experimentation? Mills poses the question
but doesn't answer it. He's less interested in a debate on the morality
of stimulants than he is in showing how Justin reacts to them. The film
smartly captures many of the nuances of enduring high school as an outsider
without falling into the common trap of exaggerating the experience and
turning the protagonist into an unlikely hero. Thumbsucker is true to its
nature, and that makes Justin's eventual transformation all the more rewarding.
Serious but never hopeless nor overly somber, "Thumbsucker" is a welcome
take on the timeless tale of growing up.
See reviews
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK - Rated
- PG - 93 minutes - Flat
"Good Night,
and Good Luck" is a movie about a group of professional newsmen who with
surgical precision remove a cancer from the body politic. They believe in
the fundamental American freedoms, and in Sen. Joseph McCarthy they see
a man who would destroy those freedoms in the name of defending them. Because
McCarthy is a liar and a bully, surrounded by yes-men, recklessly calling
his opponents traitors, he commands great power for a time. He destroys
others with lies, and then is himself destroyed by the truth. The instrument
of his destruction is Edward R. Murrow, a television journalist above reproach,
whose radio broadcasts from London led to a peacetime career as the most
famous newsman in the new medium of television. McCarthy and the fanaticism
he represents offend Murrow. He makes bold to say so, and why. He is backed
by his producers and reporters, and supported by the leadership of his network,
CBS, even though they lose sponsors, and even though McCarthy claims Murrow
himself is a member of a subversive organization. After McCarthy targets
Murrow and the newsman is able to disprove the most damning allegations,
the Senate elected to investigate McCarthy, and the witch-hunts were over.
(The title, Good Night, and Good Luck, echoes Murrow's sign-off.) It's astounding
that a treatment of a factual incident from five decades ago could have
such powerful resonance today. However, today's climate of escalating paranoia
isn't that different from what this country endured in the 1950s, when the
birth pains of the Cold War produced a megalomaniac named Joseph McCarthy.
And while the 2000s have not yet generated a demagogue of McCarthy's stature,
the sense of déjà vu is inescapable. Replace the "Communism" of the '50s
with "Terrorism" today, and the parallels come into focus. Although the
events depicted in the film occurred more than 50 years ago, arguments pertaining
to the rights of an individual and government actions taken in the name
of national security will still strike powerful chords with a modern audience.
Clooney's assured direction makes sure Good Night appears credible and not
a conspiracy-theory screed shouted by activists leaning left or right.
See reviews
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE - Rated
- R - 84 minutes - Flat
In "The Squid
and the Whale" the year is 1986, and the place is Brooklyn, New York. The
marriage between Professor Bernard Berkman (Jeff Daniels) and his wife,
Joan (Laura Linney), is about to pass the point of no return. Bernard, a
brilliant but self-obsessed man, is more interested in exploiting his wife's
weaknesses than showing affection. Tired of being shackled to a man who
loves himself and his books more than her, Joan has sought comfort outside
of her marriage - on more than one occasion. When this comes to head and
the couple decides to separate, it's the children - teenager Walt (Jesse
Eisenberg) and his younger brother, Frank (Owen Kline) - who are the victims.
The joint custody arrangement offers little for anyone. Bernard has to move
into a dump of a house (the only place he can afford on his meager salary).
Frank wants to stay with his mother and avoid his father. Walt, who idolizes
Bernard, would rather skip visits to his mother. And the family cat gets
shuttled back and forth with the children. Things become complicated when
Lili (Anna Paquin), one of Bernard's students, moves into his house and
catches Walt's eye, and when Joan takes up with Frank's tennis instructor,
Ivan (William Baldwin). Perhaps because aspects of the story reflect real-life
events from writer/director Noah Baumbach's growing-up experiences, there's
a sense of truth and believability in all that transpires during the course
of The Squid and the Whale. This does not feel like a movie of the week.
It is not replete with manipulation. Instead, we are confronted with credible
characters facing a difficult (yet common) situation, and they react in
ways we might expect. The characters in The Squid and the Whale are intelligent,
flawed individuals, and Baumbach illustrates the gray areas of their personalities,
rather than dwelling on blacks and whites. It's s refreshing experience
to see a picture in which no one can justifiably be classified as "good"
or "bad." And the story is open-ended. This is a slice of life. There's
more of the pie to be consumed, but the movie only provides a piece of it.
There is closure, but also a recognition that life will go on.
See reviews
SHOPGIRL - Rated - R - 106 minutes
- Scope
"Shopgirl,"
written by and co-starring Steve Martin, is a romantic collision of desperate
opposites and a funny and poignant story of love in the modern age. The
film catches a glimpse inside the lives of three very different people on
diverse paths, but all in search of the same thing. Mirabelle (Claire Danes)
is a "plain Jane" overseeing the rarely frequented glove counter at Saks
Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills. She comes home to an empty apartment after
climbing an Escher-like staircase - in which she must climb up to get down
- feeds the cat, works on her art and gets up the next morning to do it
again. She is another anonymous commuter trapped in the gridlock of life
without an exit. An artist struggling to keep up with even the minimum payment
on her credit card and student loans, she keeps to herself until a rich,
handsome fifty something named Ray Porter (Steve Martin) sweeps her off
her feet. He is kind and generous, but detached, quietly manipulative and
self-absorbed, and she is too inexperienced to resist or assert herself.
She is part of his collection and, though he is fond of her, she is important
only in that she reassures him of something about himself. Simultaneously,
Mirabelle is being pursued by Jeremy, (Jason Schwartzman) a basic bachelor
who's, to put it mildly, not quite as cultured and successful as Ray. At
first this unsuitable and comically inept boy, who buys her fries, rifles
through her CD collection and borrows money from her to take her out, is
at least a distraction from her day to day ennui. He is a good guy but spacey
and quirky. One of the men is from a different world. One of them is from
a different planet. And both of them are unworthy of her for different reasons.
The first is a millionaire twice her age, and the other is an unkempt and
ill-mannered rock 'n' roller. But just who is she? "Shopgirl" is her job
description, but it doesn't do her justice. She is the least defined character
in this triangle, a composite of her own longing and their desire for her.
Thier love triangle of sorts is set against an L.A. backdrop of disconnected
lives, fearing both intimacy and loneliness, sideswiping each other while
rushing elsewhere, lingering and then resuming their trajectory somewhat
altered by the exchange. "Shopgirl" is an enjoyable film about needs, love,
loss and choice. The result adds up to a gentle romantic story with intelligence
in the way it entertains us, although, as in life, one may feel either satisfaction
or disappointment in how it turns out, depending on one's personal romantic
inclinations.
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OLIVER TWIST - Rated - PG13 -
130 minutes - Scope
Roman Polanski's
decision to remake "Oliver Twist" after his Oscar winning turn in "The Pianist"
reflects his own harrowing childhood in Poland during the Second World War.
As a Holocaust survivor, "The Pianist" was a tale of survival against brutal
odds. "Oliver Twist" is what happens when an innocent child becomes a pawn
in the ruthless games of adults. The film is a much darker and sobering
view of the Charles Dickens classic. It is brilliantly shot with an incredibly
realistic depiction of Victorian-era England. Polanksi's masterful touch
is evident in every frame of this wonderful film. It is another grand achievement
by one of film's greatest auteurs. Charles Dickens wrote Oliver Twist almost
two hundred years ago, but the plight of abandoned children still remains
the same. Polanski embraces this theme and takes great pains to show how
helpless Oliver really is. Polanski does a superb job casting the film.
Ben Kingsley, who will see another Oscar nomination for this role, is absolutely
amazing as Fagin. He takes one of history's great literary characters and
transforms him into something completely his own. Polanski used the same
team from "The Pianist" to make Oliver Twist. These people are truly expert
filmmakers. Every facet of this film superbly done, the production is just
a glory to behold on screen. Film is a collaborative art form and it's rare
to see everything fit so cohesively together.
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